🎉 Da 250th Birthday of America: Ready o not, we going celebrate! 🇺🇸
⬇️ Pidgin | ⬇️ ⬇️ English
Da history of America stay like one big fight, yeah? 💥 But now, da national planning commission stay tryin’ fo’ make one comeback. Wea da Semiquincentennial stay, we no know if we ready or not, but we goin’ do ’em anyway. 💪
Fo’ dose folks planning da Semiquincentennial of da United States in 2026, da last few years stay like one long, cold winter at Valley Forge. They’ve had to battle public apathy toward the impending 250th anniversary of American independence, which has hardly been helped by the false starts, recriminations and lawsuits plaguing the federal commission charged with coordinating the celebration. 😔🔒
And then there’s the tongue-twisting word itself, which has left more than a few people puzzling over not just what a semiquincentennial is, but how the heck you say it. 🤔🗣️
Still, as July 4 approaches, the effort is stepping into overdrive, as planners hit what some wryly call the annual panic button. On Tuesday, the rebooted United States Semiquincentennial Commission, also known as America250, will roll out a public engagement campaign at American Family Field in Milwaukee, where the Chicago Cubs will face the hometown Brewers. And so far, at least 33 states have created commissions, while institutions across the country are steaming ahead with plans for exhibitions and events of their own. 📅🔥
Across the country, there’s a sense of excitement and cautious optimism, along with no small amount of worry over how to create a unifying commemoration at a moment when fighting about American history seems to be the real national pastime. ⚡🤞
“The effort to do inclusive history is bumping up against this other view of history, which is exclusive, exclusionary, simplistic and whitewashed,” said John Dichtl, the president and chief executive of the American Association for State and Local History. And now it’s all coming together, he said, “in a ferocious and fascinating way.” 🌍🧩
Partisan political battles have yet to embroil Semiquincentennial planning specifically. “But as we talk to people,” Dichtl said, “the No. 1 thing they want is more help navigating these times, which are probably only going to get worse.” 😕🤝
In May, unease ran through the historical community when former President Donald J. Trump released a campaign video pledging to hold a yearlong “Salute to America 250,” including a “Great American State Fair” with pavilions from all 50 states, nationwide high school sports competitions and the construction of his proposed “National Garden of American Heroes.” And a growing number of state-funded historical institutions have come under political fire. Last month, Republican lawmakers in Alabama threatened to defund the state archives after it hosted a lecture on L.G.B.T.Q. history. 📽️🏟️
In Texas, where the state’s historical association has been mired in discord for months, the executive director, J.P. Bryan Jr., a billionaire energy executive, has filed a suit alleging that the group’s board is illegally stocked with left-leaning academics who want to distort authentic Texas history. 🤬⚖️
But Rosie Rios, the chair of America250, said politics had not been an issue for the federal commission, which includes both Democratic and Republican legislators. 🙌🏼🤝
The commemoration will be “bipartisan, nonpartisan, all-partisan,” she said, adding that the emphasis would be on Americans telling their own stories in ways that make sense to them. 🗣️🇺🇸
So, as the Semiquincentennial draws near, it’s time to put differences aside and come together to celebrate the remarkable journey of the United States over the past 250 years. 🎇🎆🥳🎈🎊
NOW IN ENGLISH
🎉 The 250th Birthday of America: Ready or not, we’re going to celebrate! 🇺🇸
The history of America has been like one big fight, right? 💥 But now, the national planning commission is trying to make a comeback. Where the Semiquincentennial stands, we don’t know if we’re ready or not, but we’re going to do it anyway. 💪
For those folks planning the Semiquincentennial of the United States in 2026, the last few years have felt like one long, cold winter at Valley Forge. They’ve had to battle public apathy toward the impending 250th anniversary of American independence, which has hardly been helped by the false starts, recriminations, and lawsuits plaguing the federal commission charged with coordinating the celebration. 😔🔒
And then there’s the tongue-twisting word itself, which has left more than a few people puzzling over not just what a semiquincentennial is, but how the heck you say it. 🤔🗣️
Still, as July 4 approaches, the effort is stepping into overdrive, as planners hit what some wryly call the annual panic button. On Tuesday, the rebooted United States Semiquincentennial Commission, also known as America250, will roll out a public engagement campaign at American Family Field in Milwaukee, where the Chicago Cubs will face the hometown Brewers. And so far, at least 33 states have created commissions, while institutions across the country are steaming ahead with plans for exhibitions and events of their own. 📅🔥
Across the country, there’s a sense of excitement and cautious optimism, along with no small amount of worry over how to create a unifying commemoration at a moment when fighting about American history seems to be the real national pastime. ⚡🤞
“The effort to do inclusive history is bumping up against this other view of history, which is exclusive, exclusionary, simplistic, and whitewashed,” said John Dichtl, the president and chief executive of the American Association for State and Local History. And now it’s all coming together, he said, “in a ferocious and fascinating way.” 🌍🧩
Partisan political battles have yet to embroil Semiquincentennial planning specifically. “But as we talk to people,” Dichtl said, “the No. 1 thing they want is more help navigating these times, which are probably only going to get worse.” 😕🤝
In May, unease ran through the historical community when former President Donald J. Trump released a campaign video pledging to hold a yearlong “Salute to America 250,” including a “Great American State Fair” with pavilions from all 50 states, nationwide high school sports competitions, and the construction of his proposed “National Garden of American Heroes.” And a growing number of state-funded historical institutions have come under political fire. Last month, Republican lawmakers in Alabama threatened to defund the state archives after it hosted a lecture on L.G.B.T.Q. history. 📽️🏟️
In Texas, where the state’s historical association has been mired in discord for months, the executive director, J.P. Bryan Jr., a billionaire energy executive, has filed a suit alleging that the group’s board is illegally stocked with left-leaning academics who want to distort authentic Texas history. 🤬⚖️
But Rosie Rios, the chair of America250, said politics had not been an issue for the federal commission, which includes both Democratic and Republican legislators. 🙌🏼🤝
The commemoration will be “bipartisan, nonpartisan, all-partisan,” she said, adding that the emphasis would be on Americans telling their own stories in ways that make sense to them. 🗣️🇺🇸
So, as the Semiquincentennial draws near, it’s time to put differences aside and come together to celebrate the remarkable journey of the United States over the past 250 years. 🎇🎆🥳🎈
